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13-Mar-08 Thieme Hennis Research proposal
Creating a Valuable Virtual ID (V-VID)
DRAFT PROPOSAL THIEME HENNIS
Explained in the following sections is a conceptual model that relates to a number of trends and ideas. First, a shortdescription about these trends is given, because they are important in setting the context of the conceptual model, whichwill be explained in the following section. Finally, more focus is given to the proposal by stating some questions thatwould guide the research.
COMMONS BASED PEER PRODUCTION AND OPENNESS
People spend more time online in virtual communities, for both social and professional reasons. Volunteers in thoseonline, distributed communities, have brought significant value for society, although contributors were not paid toproduce.
It’s about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes. […] The new Web is a very different thing. It’s a
too
l for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter. […] We’relooking at an explosion of productivity and innovation, and it’s just getting started, as millions of minds that 
would otherwise have drowned in obscurity get backhauled into the global intellectual economy.
 –
Time Magazine, 13 December 2006
 –
 
This is commonly referred to as social production, or commons-based peer production. (Benkler, 2006) Some examplesare;The development of Open Source Software (Linux, Apache, Mozilla Firefox);Production of online media and other cultural goods (Flickr, YouTube), information (Wikipedia, Digg.com, Yahoo!Answers), and educational content (iTunes University, Connexions, Open Courseware);Passively contributing to a project through sharing and combining resources, such as FightAids@Home and theWorld Community Grid (sharing computer power to compute extremely difficult calculations), and through
tagging and normal use of the Web’s resourc
es (adding metadata).Next to the mentioned examples, there literally are thousands of successful community or networking initiatives thathave emerged the last decade, which enforce the trend of openness and sharing that signifies commons-based peerproduction.
“It is a new mode of production emerging
in the middle of the most advanced economies in the world 
—
thosethat are the most fully computer networked and for which information goods and services have come to occupy the highest-
valued roles.” 
 –
Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks (2006)
 –
 
CONNECTIVISM
Information production increases at a tremendous speed, and at the same time, information becomes much more rapidlyobsolete. Highly relevant and qualitative (depending on context) information is produced as well as complete rubbish.Managing this information flow is increasingly difficult, both for people and machines. George Siemens (2005) describes
“ 
connectivism
” 
as the learning paradigm of the 21
st
century. Internalizing static information, although still a part of thelearning process, is supplemented with cultivating and maintaining connections. The reason is that information changes
 
13-Mar-08 Thieme Hennis Research proposal
Creating a Valuable Virtual ID (V-VID)
constantly (to a certain degree), and people cannot be up-to-date all the time and internalize each information node incase it might become relevant one day. Relevant information is brought to individuals through channels and connections.Emphasizing these channels and connections should improve deliverance of relevant information at relevant moments.Learning (and creating) is not solely a brain activity, but happens in both internal (neural) and external (social andcomputer) networks. A person needs to be able to find his/her way online, in communities, and with online tools andapplications. This requires a different, more active approach to learning.
We are in the early stages of dramatic change
—
change that will shake the spaces and structures our society.Knowledge, the building block of tomorrow is riding a tumultuous sea of change. Previously, knowledge served the aims of the economy 
—
creation, production, and marketing. Today, knowledge is the economy. What used tobe the means has today become the end.
 –
George Siemens, Knowing Knowledge
(2006)
 
 –
 
FLEXIBLE EMPLOYMENT
People switch between jobs more than they did in earlier times. The demand of the market is constantly changing, andpeople and organizations have to be able to learn, forget, and relearn rapidly, in order to stay ahead of its competitors.Consultancy firms position their employees in a way that flexibly addresses the demand of their clients. More efficient isto let people determine the jobs and tasks that fit best to their skills and interests. Being self-employed by numerous
employers has certain advantages; it adds to someone’s motivation and responsibility, creates more opportunities and
even increases security. Malone & Laubacher (1998) coined the term
“e
-
lance” 
(electronic freelance) economy, todescribe an economy largely based on temporary organizations of individuals that emerge and dissolve when businessopportunities arise and disappear, and where IT serves to link individual nodes. Building on this thought, numeroussuccessful websites (Guru.com, elance.com, rentacoder.com, odesk.com, etc.) have emerged, which aim to connectbuyers and suppliers of information goods, hence clients and
e-lancers
.
In an e-lance economy, the fundamental unit is not the corporation, but the individual. Tasks are not assigned and controlled through a stable chain of management, but rather are carried out autonomously by independent contractors. These freelancers join together into fluid and temporary networks to produce and sell goods and services.
 –
Tom Malone, The Future of Work
(2004)
 
 –
 
Another, similar thought concerns the
ideagora
, a term coined by Don Tapscott & AD Williams (2006) in their bookWikinomics. An
ideagora
does not take a task or job as a starting point, but a problem or idea, that either needs asolution or an commercial application. People and companies interact on online marketplaces, such as InnoCentive.comand where problems connect with solutions (either new or existing, like patents and intellectual property).
Billions of connected individuals can now actively participate in innovation, wealth creation, and social development in ways we once only dreamed of. And when these masses of people collaborate they collectively can advance the arts, culture, science, education, government, and the economy in surprising but ultimately  profitable ways. Companies that engage with these exploding Web-enabled communities are already discoveringthe true dividends of collective capability and genius.
 –
Don Tapscott, Wikinomics
(2006)
 
 –
 
 
13-Mar-08 Thieme Hennis Research proposal
Creating a Valuable Virtual ID (V-VID)
RESEARCHING THE MODEL AND ITS CONDITIONS
This section tries to explain the concept from the perspective in which I have conceived it. It can be considered aconceptual model that, applied in a certain scenario, can be used to create a space where people contribute positively totheir environment and at the same time helping themselves. I say scenario, because there is a number of conditions thatinfluence the possible workings of it. In the section that follows this one, an initial step is taken toward formulatingresearch questions for investigating the conditions and scenarios, and possible workings of the model.The trends and factors of the previous sections have been stated with a reason. Through combination of the principlesand ideas, an efficient model can be created that with commons-based peer production,
connectivist 
learning & creating,and flexible employment based on a virtual identity. This model then provide a foundation for people exchanging andsharing knowledge and cultural goods on a free basis, and be rewarded for it eventually. These objectives imply twoimportant criteria that has not been mentioned so far in this proposal;1.
 
a mechanism that ensures that voluntary efforts by people in community are translated into a personal, virtualidentity; and2.
 
a virtual identity that, in successful communities, can be trusted, found and used for employment.This is best be represented with the following illustration and accompanying explanatory story.
 A person is interested in some domain or specification, and finds a relevant community, or creates a relevant network. Thisnetwork consists of people with specific knowledge who are able to teach and offer help. After being introduced to thesubject, the person can make himself valuable in the network, by sharing and applying his specific knowledge. By beingactive he/she improves the network, and his or her online identity or status. Being a network, with network characteristics,this improvement will attract more people, who potentially can increase this network even more. Some of these people arelooking for opportunities to make money out of the innovation done in the network, or just want some advise on specificsubjects. Through flexible employment mechanisms these people might also be interested in hiring smart persons in thenetwork, trustworthy persons. This trust and smartness is
represented by the “Virtual 
ID
” 
of a person, and combined withspecific characteristics of the person will make searching for the right person easy and effective. Through the provision of services for the network by its participants, paid or non-paid, value is created for both the person as the network. This isalso the reason why people would share their knowledge with others, and help individuals with problems: they contributeto their own position in the network, meanwhile getting positive reactions of the person being helped. Both intrinsic (doinggood) and extrinsic (increasing virtual identity and job opportunities) motivations play a role.
Interest/MotivationParticipationFlexibleemployment
indirect 
ChangeVirtual IDChangenetworkvalue
of 00

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